Saturday, April 24, 2010

5

Toni Esposito: Rosso napoletano (Numero uno, 1975)

Jazz and the Mediterranean: two worlds merging into one with the suspended atmospheres of "Rosso napoletano". A magical record, capturing the most alluring aspects of Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis and elevating them to an almost mystical lightness. Hypnotic funky grooves and a miniaturistic work on percussions are the key element - and the most discreet one - of the sound, equally tipified by charming keyboard brushstrokes (piano, e-piano, synthetizers, all unfolded with calm, equilibrium and an elegant sense of obliqueness) and wavering saxophone themes, metamorphosing Southern-Italian folklore into a new melodic language.
The album succeeds in being both relaxing and thrilling at the same time: its delicate stream cradles and bewitches, but the everchaning breeze of its details won't ever let you yawn.

"Rosso napoletano" is the first solo album by legendary Neapolitan session-drummer Toni Esposito, and features Robert Fix on saxophone,  Paul Buckmaster on keyboards, and Gigi De Rienzo on bass and guitars, plus many guest appearences.


Tracklist:

  1. Rosso napoletano
  2. Danza dei bottoni
  3. Il venditore di elastici
  4. Breakfast
  5. L'eroe di plastica
Download (192 kbps)


Similar albums on the blog:

Saturday, April 10, 2010

2

Giuntoli & Meroni: Diabolik e i sette nani (Rombo, 1980)

Idly couched on the confluence of progressive, jazz and "modern classical" experimentation lies "Diabolik e i Sette Nani", and it does not sound as you would expect from these few words. Don't imagine anything difficult, pretentious, or intellectual: just piano and saxophone (or clarinet, sometimes). Placid and spontaneous - even a bit tipsy, I dare say. No apparent direction: the tracks are just take-it-as-it-comes excursions through Satiesque impressions, free-jazz(y) improvisations, and facetious melodic quotations. The overall spirit might remind Robert Wyatt, but the most close comparison I can think about is the lazy melancholy of French avant-prog project ZNR (for the few ones which actually knew them).

Massimo Giuntoli and Roberto Meroni are both from Milan, where they still live and play today.


Tracklist:

  1. I racconti di Canterbury
  2. Mastro Antonio
  3. Tre movimenti per pianoforte
  4. Diabolik e i sette nani
  5. Lothrorien
Download (217 kbps, vinyl rip)

nb. The first four tracks are grouped together in one single file


Similar albums on the blog:

Friday, April 9, 2010

1  

Claudio Baglioni: Viaggiatore sulla coda del tempo (Columbia Sony Music, 1999)

Baroque pop means dressy arrangements, highfalutin melodies, and a certain amount of pretentiousness. But in the case of this album, the expression gets some additional meanings. Talking about structures, these songs don't reach the puzzling complexity of Battisti's later efforts: no deconstruction here, just verse/chorus/bridge/coda craftmanship taken to masterwork level - the quintessence of baroque aestethics. Lyrics and rhymes are of the most convoluted kind: lines and lines of far-fetched metaphores just to say one small concept, interwoven with elaborate rhyme schemes which always privilege form above content.
The arrangements are layered and affected by a purely baroque form of horror vacui: in any other context, they'd sound overproduced, but here they just fit perfectly. Blending orchestral gusts and trip-hop architectures, Fripp-like curves and abrupt world music meddlings, their amazing sound depth's a stirring counterpoint to the impressive vocal glides propelling the songs.

21th album by pop-rock superstar Claudio Baglioni, the lp is some sort of concept work about midlife and the passing of time. It was produced by Cervello's Corrado Rustici, and the drums were played by longtime Baglioni's collaborator Gavin Harrison, later of Porcupine Tree fame.


Tracklist:

  1. Hangar
  2. Un mondo a forma di te
  3. Si io sarò
  4. Stai su
  5. Caravan
  6. Mal d'universo
  7. Chi c'è in ascolto
  8. Opere e omissioni
  9. Quanto tempo ho
  10. A domani
  11. Cuore di aliante
  12. A Clà
Download (320 kbps)


Similar albums on the blog: